In the middle ring of Melbourne’s suburbs is a house that has no insulation, mismatched carpet, handmade curtains, a bad interior paint job and no heating or cooling.
I know this, because I used to live there.
11. Kid A - Radiohead (Why I Hate Paul McCartney)
I cannot stand Paul McCartney.
I’ve been told it’s irrational, this disdain I have for ‘Sir Paul’, but every time I see his image, hear his music or have to listen to his grating, annoying voice I have a reaction akin to stubbing my toe.
On a particularly mediocre rock.
10. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill
It wasn’t good, of course.
It was so much more than that.
It was (and still is) a life-changing, furious feat of artistic perfection. It’s raw, fierce, exquisite, layered and powerful.
20. 9th & Hennepin - Tom Waits
So I’d plug in those ubiquitous white headphones on my way back to the train station and put that album on, knowing it was the perfect soundtrack to that time between last drinks and the last train.
It’s a harsh album on first listen, a tired beast borne of carnival touts and bitter polka bands.
The music was – is – unique to my ears, a symphony of history and ancient instruments. The melodies are simple, at first, until you realise he’s playing three different melodies on two instruments, with his raw charcoal voice on another melodic journey.
9. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
It’s not the same, of course, it never can be. The relentless progress of life and time has seen to that — in ways positive and negative, of course.
But we’re there, in each other’s lives to varying and fluctuating degrees.
There have been 18th’s, 21st’s, engagements, weddings, marriages, kids, dinners, lunches, barbecues, laughs, late nights, too many whisky’s and long phonecalls.
19. Lovesong - Amiel
Your usual love songs have never been terribly interesting to me.
The schmaltzy, boring lyrics and flat vocals all over the radio are just dull. They’re chemically treated to exist without any context, floating away from any significance.
They’re the antithesis of this entire series actually – songs bereft of meaning, with the additional quality of being sonically boring.
17. I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
Then you drill down into the lyrics and you realise the boppy tune is all about the dangers of a night out. The thin line between fun and a punch in the face. The risks that the local constabulary could pose when you’ve had a skinful and lost your primary faculties:
8. Christmas Songs
Christmas songs are, generally, terrible.
Drowning in schmaltz, lacking in irony and banging on about snow, reindeer and mistletoe — things about as far from a Melbourne summer as possible.
16. Thunderstruck - AC/DC
My first job was at Hungry Jack’s. It might be the rose-tint of nostalgia, but it remains one of my very favourite jobs.
Work all shift with your mates, in a fairly demanding environment (the local appetite for Hungry Jack’s was, back in 1999, insatiable), giving each other stick and actually working pretty hard.
